$Meta Platforms (META.US)$ CEO Mark Zuckerberg is ready to put more of his chips into the fledgling metaverse despite his company's finance chief anticipating losses of Reality Labs growing "significantly year over year."
What Happened: Zuckerberg said on the company's third-quarter earnings call that "the internal indications I've seen suggest we're doing leading work, and are on the right track with these investments, so I think that we should keep investing heavily in these areas."
The metaverse "is a massive undertaking and it's going to take a few versions of each product before they become mainstream," the Meta CEO said. "I think that our work here is going to be of historic importance."
Zuckerberg took a similar stance earlier this year when Reality Labs took a nearly $3 billion hit in the first quarter.
Why It Matters: Meta's Reality Labs business, which produces virtual reality and augmented reality hardware and software, reported a loss of $3.7 billion in the third quarter compared with $2.6 billion a year earlier. It reported a revenue of $285 million.
The Zuckerberg-led company's third-quarter revenue came in at $27.7 billion, a 4% decline year-over-year, but beat the Street estimate of $27.5 billion. Earnings per share were $1.64, falling short of the $1.91 estimate, according to data from Benzinga Pro.
Price Action: On Wednesday, Meta shares fell nearly 20% to $104.30 in after-hours trading after closing 5.6% down at $129.82 in the regular hours.